How to Launch a Survey

Once your survey is programmed and fully tested, you’re ready to launch. Follow these steps to ensure everything is set up correctly before going live.

Go to the Audience tab in your Build Survey screen.

• Make sure your sample source is correct: either Glass Survey Audience or My Own Audience.

• Confirm any Inbound Census settings for demographic balancing.

• Double-check that your quotas (for gender, age, region, etc.) are correctly set and reflect your intended mix.
  

Navigate to the Respondent Quality tab. By default, quality filters are on, automatically flagging or terminating respondents who fail basic quality checks (for example, speeding, straight-lining, or inconsistent answers). You only need to make changes here if you wish to turn off or adjust these settings.

Go to the Review tab. Here you’ll see a summary of your survey, including:

• Survey title

• Total number of respondents

• Estimated incidence rate

• Number of questions
  

You’ll also have options to:

• Download the questionnaire (Microsoft Word version) for your records.

• Review Audience and Variables to confirm all requirements.

  • For example, check that demographic quotas (like a 50/50 gender split) are defined correctly.

  • In the Variables section, confirm that any quotas based on variables (e.g., “all or none” or specific proportions) are properly configured.

Pro Tip: This is your last opportunity to ensure your screener and quotas match your intended targeting before launch.

Navigate to the Checkout tab.

• Enter a valid email address to receive your receipt.

• Enter your credit card information (see the Payments page for more details).

• Click Pay and Launch.
  

Your survey will begin collecting responses immediately. You’ll be able to see completions in real time from your dashboard.

Note: Your total cost and is affected by your estimated incidence. Lower incidence (harder-to-find audiences) increases cost and may slow fielding. Setting a realistic incidence will ensure smooth and accurate delivery.

Even if you’ve tested your survey thoroughly, it’s best practice to Soft Launch first to ensure data is collecting as expected.

A soft launch means starting with a smaller portion of your total sample — typically 10% — to confirm that:

• All questions and routing work as intended.

• Data is populating correctly in your tables and exports.

• Quotas, logic, and quality controls are behaving properly.

This small test run helps catch any last-minute issues before you invest in full deployment.

1. Go to the Review tab.

2. Update your total number of respondents to a smaller test size (e.g., 50 completes or 10% of your total).

3. Proceed to the Checkout tab.

4. Complete payment and click Pay and Launch to start your soft launch.
   

Once responses start coming in, review the raw data carefully to verify that:

• Responses are flowing through the survey as expected.

• Skip logic, randomization, and exclusives are functioning correctly.

• Open-ends and scales display and record properly.

You also can start designing your crosstabs at this point to make future analysis even quicker!

If everything looks good, return to the Review tab to increase your total respondent target to your full goal and launch again. If changes are needed, pause the field, make your updates, and then relaunch once the issues are resolved. Remember, each launch (soft or full) is treated as a separate transaction, so plan accordingly when budgeting.